Tambourines, riqs, pandieros and the like are types of percussion musical instruments known as ideophones capable of producing a variety of sounds. In their simplest form, these instruments include a frame or shell with a series of windows formed therein and paired sets of jingles that are supported for movement within the window. A percussive sound is produced by hitting, shaking, or otherwise vibrating the frame so as to move the jingles within the window. In some embodiments, the instrument may further include a stretch membrane disposed over an end of the shell. This membrane can be used as a means for vibrating the jingles or alternately producing tones by means of beating or otherwise vibrating the stretched membrane.
The quality of the sound produced by the tambourine is dependent upon the jingles ability to resonate once they have been excited. More specifically, the musical tones generated by collision of the metallic jingles is enhanced when the jingle is allowed to resonate and ring. However, the manner in which the jingles are idly supported within current tambourine designs inhibits their ability to so resonate. Specifically, the windows within which the jingles are supported are generally rectangular while the thickness of the shell is relatively thin. Accordingly, the jingles are allowed to rotate about an axis generally tangential to the shell (roll) substantially freely but are not allowed to rotate about an axis generally normal to the shell (pitch) in an equally freely manner. As such, the jingles are overly constrained in a pitch direction resulting in an overly damped or poor acoustic quality.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art to provide a tambourine which affords a free rotational movement along both a roll axis and a pitch axis for generating an improved percussive sound with rich tonal qualities.